I posted this on the DCC forum and have gotten 30 views and no feedback yet, so I'm hoping you guys won't be as reserved... What are your preferences for N scale board replacement style decoders? AFAIK, Digitrax, MRC, TCS, Lenz, and NCE are all options - does anyone else make them? I've been pleased with Digitrax's support/warranty/repair system, but I've been having to use it enough that I'm willing to consider jumping ship to another brand. At the moment four of my nine locomotives (all Digitrax) are out of service with decoder issues that resetting CV's and remounting haven't been able to fix.
Last year I had three Digitrax decoder boards that were DOA and had to go back. I had been using TCS also and have switched to TCS whenever possible.
I run Digitrax, Soundtraxx Tsunami and ESU Loksound decoders in all of my engines. I've never had a DOA Digitrax decoder and I've installed several dozen over the past couple of years, both drop-in and hard-wired. My 11 DN163K0b drop-ins for my Kato F's take me about ten minutes to install, and ten minutes to program. It's getting easier the more experienced I've become. My DZ125's installed in smaller non-sound engines have all been excellent and easy to install. I'm happy that Digitrax has its one year no-questions asked return policy, but I haven't had to use it yet. My Soundtraxx Tsunami drop-in in one of my Athearn Big Boys (replacing the POS MRC decoder) is fabulous. It's loud enough to be impressive to onlookers at shows, and the back-emf, amperage sensing increase in the chuff sharpness whenever it's fighting a grade is great! I love to drift to a stop using the inertia effect, with the chuff almost silent, the brakes squealing, the rods clanking...then the bell comes on...and so does a huge smile on my face! My other Big Boys and Challengers will be getting their Tsunami's soon. I only don't like the whistle, which is not loud enough and doesn't sound like any recorded Big Boy whistle I've ever heard. I'm going to finally get around to seeing if the Challenger whistle is in there somewhere, since FEF's, Challengers and Big Boys all used the same whistle. I've installed a used ESU Loksound decoder in one of my son's E-7's and I am very impressed with the ease of installation and the quality of sound as well as the running qualities of these expensive decoders. I will be testing one for my Big Boys and Challengers before I decide which one I like the best (Soundtraxx or ESU) to replace the POS MRC decoders that are in them now. No...ESU decoders are not "drop-in" but, they are very small and easy to work with. I will be trying Digitrax sound decoders for my F-unit A's and E-8/9 A's. Although you gotta mill a hole in the frame for the speaker, the decoders simply replace the stock light board, so I guess they're "drop-in"....sort of. A friend of mine spent several hours getting his Digitrax DN163K0b's to work properly installing them at the last show we were attending, but it was inexperience that took him that long. I've found the best way to get them to work reliably is to quickly solder the tabs between the chassis and the decoder rather than relying on the Kato "tab clip" to put enough pressure on the tabs to maintain reliable contact to the decoder. Tin the chassis tabs first, then flux them lightly, bend them down till they are touching the decoder, hold in place with an Xacto knife and touch quickly with a hot iron. As soon as you see the solder run, take the iron OFF...NOW! Keep them pressed in place with the Xacto knife until the solder cools. It works well for me! I hear a lot of people bad-mouthing Digitrax decoders, but...I am not one of them because my experience with them has been 100% good. On the other hand, my experience with Soundtraxx and ESU has also been good. My experience with MRC decoders has been not good. They burn up, they don't sound good, and they're impossible to properly program. Maybe they've improved lately...maybe not. I don't recommend them. Big help eh? Cheers! Bob Gilmore
I personally have only used two brands of decoders, NCE and TCS.. I would say that I prefer TCS over NCE, as the TCS decoders just "seem" to run better.. I recently fitted some TCS AMD4 drop in decoders in some Atlas SD35's, and a feature I really liked is that TCS now has slots through the decoder PCB for the motor tabs to be placed.. Seeing as I (like Bob) like to put a small dob of solder on the power pickup pads that clamp in the frame, i took the opportunity to solder the motor tabs to to the motor pads on the decoder to remove any chance of there being a poor contact between the motor and decoder.. Cheers Mark.
I have been using Digitrax for about 15 years and have well over a hundred locos with Digitrax decoders. In all that time I have only had 1 defective decoder. I also use a lot of TCS wired decoders (Z2) and have had zero problems.
I don't use sound ....yet, I've been using Digitrax since I started and will be adding TCS to my arsenal. Most of mine are drop in or plug and play. If your planning to speed match in the future, make sure the chips have the Forward and Reverse Trim settings. If you have some older Kato and Atlas chassis's that are not DCC ready, be sure to take a look at the TCS CN & CN-GP decoders as they are designed for these NON DCC chassis's. A buddy like the NCE chips as well.
I have used MRC,NCE,Digitrax and TCS and have to say I like the TCS the best and put Digitrax in a close second. When I first went DCC I went for price and didn't use the TCS because they cost a little more. If I was starting over I would have used them a lot more. They are also made in the USA.
I don't think there are enough decoders that fit multiple locomotives that can be compared effectively. The same thing can be said of locomotives. As very few of the same exact loco are made by multiple manufacturers.
I would be helpful if you told us what locos you are interested in DCC-ing. My experience is primarily with N-scale Atlas GP-7s SD7s SD24s, and with Kato E-8s and F-3s and with Intermountain F7s. All of these have Digitrax boards and have been very reliable. The older Atlas GP-7s I have are not actually board replacemnts but milled frames with TCS decoders. I have had to return 2 of these to the factory after they "went up in smoke" after running perfectly fine for months.... Nice warranty, but it takes awhile. Oh, and some rom LifeLike F-M C-Liners with drop-in MRC decoders and sound.... the decoders work fine, but the sound is practically inaudible. And they behave differently which I attribute to MRC vs Digitrax, rather than LifeLike vs anything else.
When I have more than one option, usually the two non-sound options I have are Digitrax and TCS. I have installed both. Now that Digitrax and TCS both have basically the same warranty and do basically the same thing, I have tended toward settling on Digitrax simply because the availability is greater and, in general, it's a little easier to speed match the same locomotives running the same brand of decoder. Over the years, I have seen a slightly higher failure rate in TCS decoders than Digitrax among my own and clubmate's locomotives, but not enough to get me to switch brands. If my LHS carried a fuller line of TCS decoders more often I would probably use theirs more often.
I am generally a non-sound guy, though I do have a few with sound. I would go TCS. I have given up on Digitrax, too many problems with their quality. I realize everyone's experiences may differ. But since TCS adopted the use of Forward and Reverse trim, there is no reason for me to look at Digitrax anymore. The lighting features are far more superior than Digitrax. One other thing, if you are using the Fox Valley Gevos, look at the Zimo decoders too. When it comes to sound, I have the Tsunami so far. I plan on getting a few ESU units in a couple of things just to see how they are. Not really going to go big into sound, maybe a couples of units here and there.
